If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 866-834-4357, TRS 800-787-3224. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.
A Perry woman who is accused of killing her ex-boyfriend was ordered held without bail Monday by a judge in Ellsworth District Court.
Danielle Wheeler, 40, was arrested by state police last week and was charged with murder for allegedly shooting and killing Jason Aubuchon, a 50-year-old from Eastport who was known locally as “Cowboy.”
Wheeler attended the brief remote hearing Monday afternoon from the Washington County Jail and is next scheduled to appear on March 22.
Police responded to a report of a man being shot around 9 p.m. on Dec. 26 at Wheeler’s home on Tranquility Lane in Perry.
According to an affidavit from Maine State Police, Wheeler called the Washington County regional communications center.
“I just shot my ex-boyfriend,” she told a dispatcher according to the police affidavit. “I’m going to jail. I’m going to jail; I’ve got to call my family.”
When officers arrived, she said they had been arguing over drugs.
Aubuchon, who had a gunshot wound to his head, was later pronounced dead at the hospital in Calais. Wheeler allegedly shot him from as close as 5 feet away.
People who knew Aubuchon described multiple incidents in which Wheeler had allegedly threatened or hurt Aubuchon. Multiple people said that Wheeler had previously stabbed him with a fork outside of a seafood restaurant. Another picked him up after Aubuchon said he couldn’t drive because Wheeler had pistol whipped him earlier in 2021, leaving him bleeding from his face and hands. She also allegedly made threats to kill him and others, according to the affidavit.
In February 2020, Wheeler was arrested by Portland police for assaulting Aubuchon in a motel parking lot. At the time, Aubuchon told police that similar incidents happened often. However, a complaint was never filed because he told the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office that he had slipped on ice, injuring himself, the affidavit recounted from a 2020 police report.
Wheeler has been held in jail since her arrest on Thursday.
BDN writer Bill Trotter contributed to this report.